This chapter explores the relativity of vocabulary choice. Its main goals are both to examine how some words are bad, and to reinforce the view that effective usage is less a matter of permanent ...
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This chapter explores the relativity of vocabulary choice. Its main goals are both to examine how some words are bad, and to reinforce the view that effective usage is less a matter of permanent fixed traditions than it is a matter of flexible and contextual conventions. Topics discussed include cursing in the media and the arts, offensive language, bad words as social construction, slang as bad language, and political correctness.Less

Bad Words

Edwin L. Battistella

Published in print: 2005-09-22

This chapter explores the relativity of vocabulary choice. Its main goals are both to examine how some words are bad, and to reinforce the view that effective usage is less a matter of permanent fixed traditions than it is a matter of flexible and contextual conventions. Topics discussed include cursing in the media and the arts, offensive language, bad words as social construction, slang as bad language, and political correctness.

Are pronunciations such as cawfee and chawklit bad English? Is slang improper? Is it incorrect to mix English and Spanish, as in Yo quiero Taco Bell? Can you write “Who do you trust?” rather than ...
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Are pronunciations such as cawfee and chawklit bad English? Is slang improper? Is it incorrect to mix English and Spanish, as in Yo quiero Taco Bell? Can you write “Who do you trust?” rather than “Whom do you trust?” This book looks at traditional notions of bad language and argues that they are often based in sterile conventionality. Examining grammar and style, cursing, slang, political correctness, regional dialects, ethnic dialects, foreign accents, and language mixing, this book discusses the strong feelings evoked by language variation, from objections to pronunciation, to complaints about bilingual education. It explains the natural desire for uniformity in writing and speaking, and traces the association of mainstream norms to ideas about refinement, intelligence, education, character, national unity, and political values. The book argues that none of these qualities is inherently connected to language. It is tempting but wrong to think of slang, dialects, and nonstandard grammar as simply breaking the rules of good English. Instead, we should view language as made up of alternative forms of orderliness adopted by speakers depending on their purpose. Thus, we can study the structure and context of nonstandard language in order to illuminate and enrich traditional forms of language, and make policy decisions based on an informed engagement.Less

Bad Language : Are Some Words Better than Others?

Edwin L. Battistella

Published in print: 2005-09-22

Are pronunciations such as cawfee and chawklit bad English? Is slang improper? Is it incorrect to mix English and Spanish, as in Yo quiero Taco Bell? Can you write “Who do you trust?” rather than “Whom do you trust?” This book looks at traditional notions of bad language and argues that they are often based in sterile conventionality. Examining grammar and style, cursing, slang, political correctness, regional dialects, ethnic dialects, foreign accents, and language mixing, this book discusses the strong feelings evoked by language variation, from objections to pronunciation, to complaints about bilingual education. It explains the natural desire for uniformity in writing and speaking, and traces the association of mainstream norms to ideas about refinement, intelligence, education, character, national unity, and political values. The book argues that none of these qualities is inherently connected to language. It is tempting but wrong to think of slang, dialects, and nonstandard grammar as simply breaking the rules of good English. Instead, we should view language as made up of alternative forms of orderliness adopted by speakers depending on their purpose. Thus, we can study the structure and context of nonstandard language in order to illuminate and enrich traditional forms of language, and make policy decisions based on an informed engagement.

This book sets a new agenda for the debate over education in America. It argues that both sides of the current debate—the elitist, anti-democratic conservatives and the radical champions of political ...
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This book sets a new agenda for the debate over education in America. It argues that both sides of the current debate—the elitist, anti-democratic conservatives and the radical champions of political correctness—have missed the point. The book argues that rather than arguing over who should be taught, what should be taught, and how it should be paid for, education must be addressed as the well-spring of democracy in the United States. Education should engender in students a commitment to community service, the literacy to live in a civil society, the competence to participate in democratic communities, the ability to think critically and deliberately in a pluralistic world, and the empathy to help people to understand their fellow citizens.Less

An Aristocracy of Everyone : The Politics of Education and the Future of America

Benjamin R. Barber

Published in print: 1994-07-14

This book sets a new agenda for the debate over education in America. It argues that both sides of the current debate—the elitist, anti-democratic conservatives and the radical champions of political correctness—have missed the point. The book argues that rather than arguing over who should be taught, what should be taught, and how it should be paid for, education must be addressed as the well-spring of democracy in the United States. Education should engender in students a commitment to community service, the literacy to live in a civil society, the competence to participate in democratic communities, the ability to think critically and deliberately in a pluralistic world, and the empathy to help people to understand their fellow citizens.

Current popular and academic discussions make certain assumptions regarding Islam and its lack of compatibility with pluralism. Some notable liberal thinkers have even argued that pluralism itself is ...
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Current popular and academic discussions make certain assumptions regarding Islam and its lack of compatibility with pluralism. Some notable liberal thinkers have even argued that pluralism itself is inherently antithetical to Islam. This volume addresses these assumptions by bringing clarity to some of their key suppositions and conjectures. It seeks to go beyond the parameters of political correctness by engaging in a dialogue that refutes these postulations in a direct, frontal debate. In this volume scholars from around the world explore notions of pluralism, discussing the broad spectrum of its relevance and application to modern-day societies, from secularism and multiculturalism to democracy, globalization, and the pivotal role of civil society.Less

The Challenge of Pluralism : Paradigms from Muslim Contexts

Abdou Filali-AnsarySikeena Karmali Ahmed

Published in print: 2009-09-30

Current popular and academic discussions make certain assumptions regarding Islam and its lack of compatibility with pluralism. Some notable liberal thinkers have even argued that pluralism itself is inherently antithetical to Islam. This volume addresses these assumptions by bringing clarity to some of their key suppositions and conjectures. It seeks to go beyond the parameters of political correctness by engaging in a dialogue that refutes these postulations in a direct, frontal debate. In this volume scholars from around the world explore notions of pluralism, discussing the broad spectrum of its relevance and application to modern-day societies, from secularism and multiculturalism to democracy, globalization, and the pivotal role of civil society.

This introductory chapter begins by comparing the Russian term politkonkretnost (“polit-concreteness”) with the English “political correctness.” Both terms share two assumptions central to this ...
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This introductory chapter begins by comparing the Russian term politkonkretnost (“polit-concreteness”) with the English “political correctness.” Both terms share two assumptions central to this book's study: that language not only reflects but also shapes perception, identity, and reality; and that language, culture, and politics are closely intertwined and mutually dependent on one another for meaning. Furthermore, the link between language change and politics is particularly critical during times of radical social change. This book thus examines the late- and post-Soviet political culture through the lens of language. The rest of the chapter outlines the methodological tools and framework best suited for this study.Less

Introduction : Ideologies, Economies, and Technologies of Language

Michael S. Gorham

Published in print: 2014-04-03

This introductory chapter begins by comparing the Russian term politkonkretnost (“polit-concreteness”) with the English “political correctness.” Both terms share two assumptions central to this book's study: that language not only reflects but also shapes perception, identity, and reality; and that language, culture, and politics are closely intertwined and mutually dependent on one another for meaning. Furthermore, the link between language change and politics is particularly critical during times of radical social change. This book thus examines the late- and post-Soviet political culture through the lens of language. The rest of the chapter outlines the methodological tools and framework best suited for this study.

Chapter Six defends one of the most offensive shows in television history—South Park—against its many critics. It argues that the vulgarity, obscenity, and blasphemy of the show have deep roots in a ...
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Chapter Six defends one of the most offensive shows in television history—South Park—against its many critics. It argues that the vulgarity, obscenity, and blasphemy of the show have deep roots in a tradition of philosophical comedy that stretches back to such figures as Aristophanes, Rabelais, and Mark Twain. Comedy is by nature transgressive, and South Park derives its bite and its energy from the way it violates contemporary norms of political correctness. The chapter focuses on episodes of South Park that defend large corporations against the charge that they compete unfairly. Instead, the show suggests that small businesses enlist government on their side to ban outside competition and thereby to restrict consumer choice artificially. The chapter analyzes South Park as consciously libertarian in its viewpoint; the show rejects both liberals and conservatives insofar as they seek to restrict freedom.Less

Cartman Shrugged : The Invisible Gnomes and the Invisible Hand in South Park

Paul A. Cantor

Published in print: 2012-11-05

Chapter Six defends one of the most offensive shows in television history—South Park—against its many critics. It argues that the vulgarity, obscenity, and blasphemy of the show have deep roots in a tradition of philosophical comedy that stretches back to such figures as Aristophanes, Rabelais, and Mark Twain. Comedy is by nature transgressive, and South Park derives its bite and its energy from the way it violates contemporary norms of political correctness. The chapter focuses on episodes of South Park that defend large corporations against the charge that they compete unfairly. Instead, the show suggests that small businesses enlist government on their side to ban outside competition and thereby to restrict consumer choice artificially. The chapter analyzes South Park as consciously libertarian in its viewpoint; the show rejects both liberals and conservatives insofar as they seek to restrict freedom.

Opponents of speech codes often argue that liberal academics use the codes to advance an agenda of political correctness. But this book, based on an enormous amount of empirical evidence, reveals ...
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Opponents of speech codes often argue that liberal academics use the codes to advance an agenda of political correctness. But this book, based on an enormous amount of empirical evidence, reveals that the real reasons for their growth are to be found in the pragmatic, almost utilitarian, considerations of college administrators. Instituting hate speech policy was often a symbolic response taken by university leaders to reassure campus constituencies of their commitment against intolerance. In an academic version of “keeping up with the Joneses,” some schools created hate speech codes to remain within what they saw as the mainstream of higher education. Only a relatively small number of colleges crafted codes out of deep commitment to their merits. Although college speech codes have been overturned by the courts, this book argues that their rise has still had a profound influence on curtailing speech in other institutions such as the media and has also shaped mass opinion and common understandings of constitutional norms. Ultimately, the book contends, this kind of informal law can have just as much power as the Constitution.Less

Speak No Evil : The Triumph of Hate Speech Regulation

Jon B. Gould

Published in print: 2005-07-01

Opponents of speech codes often argue that liberal academics use the codes to advance an agenda of political correctness. But this book, based on an enormous amount of empirical evidence, reveals that the real reasons for their growth are to be found in the pragmatic, almost utilitarian, considerations of college administrators. Instituting hate speech policy was often a symbolic response taken by university leaders to reassure campus constituencies of their commitment against intolerance. In an academic version of “keeping up with the Joneses,” some schools created hate speech codes to remain within what they saw as the mainstream of higher education. Only a relatively small number of colleges crafted codes out of deep commitment to their merits. Although college speech codes have been overturned by the courts, this book argues that their rise has still had a profound influence on curtailing speech in other institutions such as the media and has also shaped mass opinion and common understandings of constitutional norms. Ultimately, the book contends, this kind of informal law can have just as much power as the Constitution.

By internalizing a blend of ironic distance and earnest appreciation, retrosploitation films tend toward pastiche's evaluatively neutral position between parody and homage—an aesthetic ambivalence ...
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By internalizing a blend of ironic distance and earnest appreciation, retrosploitation films tend toward pastiche's evaluatively neutral position between parody and homage—an aesthetic ambivalence matched by a political ambivalence in their fan reception. This middle position toward their historical referents opens the question of to what degree these contemporary films may also imitate the outdated political attitudes found in past exploitation cinema. Yet, when some viewers excuse the anachronistic political incorrectness of retrosploitation films as a temporary escape from critical engagement with contemporary attitudes, others maintain their fan-cultural appeals to connoisseurship by remaining attuned to the political work that these ostensibly regressive films do. Nostalgia's disjuncture between past and present can thus call attention to unresolved social inequalities, particularly if these films encourage us to identify with the viewing expectations of past audiences. Using textual readings and fan responses, this chapter surveys the representational politics in the retrosploitation cycle and its reception, finding openings for more progressive understandings of these films as well.Less

Dressed to Regress? The Retributive Politics of the Retrosploitation Pastiche

David Church

Published in print: 2015-02-01

By internalizing a blend of ironic distance and earnest appreciation, retrosploitation films tend toward pastiche's evaluatively neutral position between parody and homage—an aesthetic ambivalence matched by a political ambivalence in their fan reception. This middle position toward their historical referents opens the question of to what degree these contemporary films may also imitate the outdated political attitudes found in past exploitation cinema. Yet, when some viewers excuse the anachronistic political incorrectness of retrosploitation films as a temporary escape from critical engagement with contemporary attitudes, others maintain their fan-cultural appeals to connoisseurship by remaining attuned to the political work that these ostensibly regressive films do. Nostalgia's disjuncture between past and present can thus call attention to unresolved social inequalities, particularly if these films encourage us to identify with the viewing expectations of past audiences. Using textual readings and fan responses, this chapter surveys the representational politics in the retrosploitation cycle and its reception, finding openings for more progressive understandings of these films as well.

This chapter joins the effort to break the Left's relative silence on the issue of political correctness and assesses its impact on academic freedom and the faculty. Where the Left is concerned, as ...
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This chapter joins the effort to break the Left's relative silence on the issue of political correctness and assesses its impact on academic freedom and the faculty. Where the Left is concerned, as cultural and political history tells us, today's conflicts are only the latest episodes in a long-running, multigenerational, now multimillennial story that entails fractious disputes about one's right to claim a place on the certified Left. For David Horowitz, an academician, there is no doubt that the Left reigns supreme and freely terrorizes everyone. But people on the Left are just as likely to feel besieged. Some of the progressive faculty attacked in Horowitz's book The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America (2006) feel endangered by increased scrutiny. Untenured and part-time faculty members feel vulnerable when they engage in progressive advocacy. Anecdotal accounts suggest that self-censorship has returned to shape faculty behavior.Less

Barefoot in New Zealand : Political Correctness on Campus

Cary Nelson

Published in print: 2010-02-03

This chapter joins the effort to break the Left's relative silence on the issue of political correctness and assesses its impact on academic freedom and the faculty. Where the Left is concerned, as cultural and political history tells us, today's conflicts are only the latest episodes in a long-running, multigenerational, now multimillennial story that entails fractious disputes about one's right to claim a place on the certified Left. For David Horowitz, an academician, there is no doubt that the Left reigns supreme and freely terrorizes everyone. But people on the Left are just as likely to feel besieged. Some of the progressive faculty attacked in Horowitz's book The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America (2006) feel endangered by increased scrutiny. Untenured and part-time faculty members feel vulnerable when they engage in progressive advocacy. Anecdotal accounts suggest that self-censorship has returned to shape faculty behavior.

This chapter deals with the continuation of important efforts to reduce shame and shaming, particularly in American society over the past half century. But it also notes important and unexpected ...
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This chapter deals with the continuation of important efforts to reduce shame and shaming, particularly in American society over the past half century. But it also notes important and unexpected countercurrents, ranging from shame-based punishments from some American courts to the wide use of shaming in partisanship and on social media.Less

The Revival of Shame : Contemporary History

Peter N. Stearns

Published in print: 2017-09-01

This chapter deals with the continuation of important efforts to reduce shame and shaming, particularly in American society over the past half century. But it also notes important and unexpected countercurrents, ranging from shame-based punishments from some American courts to the wide use of shaming in partisanship and on social media.